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List of birds of Christmas Island facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The birds of Christmas Island are a very diverse group, with 162 different kinds of birds! Some of these birds are endemic, meaning they are found only on Christmas Island and nowhere else in the world. They have lived and evolved on this remote island in the eastern Indian Ocean for thousands of years. Other birds are regular visitors who migrate there, or simply opportunists and occasional guests.

Christmas Island is quite isolated, about 200 kilometers from the nearest land, Java. Humans didn't live there until the late 1800s. Today, it's a territory of Australia. Most of the island, which is about 140 square kilometers, is covered in rainforest. The birds that live on the land are perfectly suited to this forest. The seabirds, on the other hand, love Christmas Island because it's a safe place to raise their young, with no big natural enemies.

For over a hundred years, people mined phosphate on the island, which meant clearing a lot of the rainforest. Now, about two-thirds of the original forest is left and is protected as a national park. However, the cleared areas and new animals brought to the island are still causing problems for the island's amazing biological diversity. For example, the unique Abbott's booby bird, which nests in trees, is threatened by strong winds caused by the missing forest.

The biggest danger right now comes from tiny invaders: yellow crazy ants. These ants directly attack birds and also cause big problems for the whole ecosystem. Because of these threats, all the bird species and subspecies that are endemic to Christmas Island are now considered Critically Endangered, meaning they are at very high risk of disappearing forever.

Despite these challenges, more and more bird species are being spotted on Christmas Island. Birdwatchers, especially from Australia, are drawn to the island's unique birds and often discover new ones that haven't been seen there before. Some of these new birds, like the white-breasted waterhen, might even start living and breeding on the island permanently. Christmas Island is now a famous spot for birdwatching, not just for its special endemic birds, but also for the chance to add new species to Australia's bird list. Birdwatchers often send their exciting new sightings to the Birds Australia Rarities Committee.

To help you understand the different types of birds, we've used some special tags:

  • (A) Accidental - This bird rarely or accidentally visits Christmas Island.
  • (I) Introduced - This bird was brought to Christmas Island by people, either directly or indirectly.
  • (E) Endemic - This bird lives only on Christmas Island and nowhere else.

Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl

Order: Anseriformes   Family: Anatidae

This family includes ducks, geese, and swans. These birds are great at living in water. They have webbed feet, flat beaks, and oily feathers that shed water easily.

Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies

Order: Galliformes   Family: Phasianidae

Phasianidae birds live on land. They are usually plump, though their size varies, and have wide, fairly short wings.

Flamingos

Order: Phoenicopteriformes   Family: Phoenicopteridae

Flamingos are tall, social wading birds, usually between 3 to 5 feet (1 to 1.5 meters) tall. They live in many parts of the world. Flamingos eat small shellfish and algae by filtering them from the water. Their unique, oddly shaped beaks are perfect for separating mud from their food and are used upside-down!

Pigeons and Doves

Order: Columbiformes   Family: Columbidae

Pigeons and doves are birds with sturdy bodies, short necks, and thin bills that have a fleshy part called a cere at the base.

  • Rock pigeon, Columba livia
  • Red collared-dove, Streptopelia tranquebarica
  • Asian emerald dove, Chalcophaps indica
  • Pacific emerald dove, Chalcophaps longirostris
  • Christmas Island imperial-pigeon, Ducula whartoni (E)
  • Torresian imperial-pigeon, Ducula spilorrhoa

Cuckoos

Order: Cuculiformes   Family: Cuculidae

The Cuculidae family includes cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis. These birds come in different sizes, but generally have slender bodies, long tails, and strong legs. Many Old World cuckoos are brood parasites, meaning they lay their eggs in other birds' nests.

Nightjars and Allies

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Caprimulgidae

Nightjars are medium-sized birds that are active at night and usually nest on the ground. They have long wings, short legs, and very short bills. Their feet are small and not very useful for walking. Their soft feathers are camouflaged to look like tree bark or leaves, helping them blend in.

  • Gray nightjar, Caprimulgus jotaka (A)
  • Savanna nightjar, Caprimulgus affinis (A)

Swifts

Order: Caprimulgiformes   Family: Apodidae

Swifts are small birds that spend most of their lives flying. They have very short legs and almost never land on the ground, preferring to perch on vertical surfaces. Many swifts have long, swept-back wings that look like a crescent moon or a boomerang.

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots

Order: Gruiformes   Family: Rallidae

Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds, including rails, crakes, coots, and gallinules. They usually live in thick plants in wet areas near lakes, swamps, or rivers. They are often shy and hard to spot. Most have strong legs and long toes, which are great for walking on soft, uneven ground. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are not strong fliers.

Stilts and Avocets

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Recurvirostridae

Recurvirostridae is a family of large wading birds, like avocets and stilts. Avocets have long legs and long, upward-curving bills. Stilts have extremely long legs and long, thin, straight bills.

  • Pied stilt, Himantopus leucocephalus (A)

Oystercatchers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Haematopodidae

Oystercatchers are large, noisy birds that look a bit like plovers. They have strong bills that they use to smash or pry open molluscs.

Plovers and Lapwings

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Charadriidae

The Charadriidae family includes plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short, thick necks, and long, usually pointed wings. You can find them in open areas all over the world, often near water.

Sandpipers and Allies

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Scolopacidae

Scolopacidae is a big and varied family of small to medium-sized shorebirds. It includes sandpipers, curlews, godwits, shanks, tattlers, woodcocks, snipes, dowitchers, and phalaropes. Most of these birds eat small invertebrates (like worms or insects) that they pick out of mud or soil. Different lengths of legs and bills allow many species to feed in the same places, especially on the coast, without competing for food.

Pratincoles and Coursers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Glareolidae

Glareolidae is a family of wading birds. It includes pratincoles, which have short legs, long pointed wings, and long forked tails. It also includes coursers, which have long legs, short wings, and long, pointed bills that curve downwards.

Skuas and Jaegers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Stercorariidae

The Stercorariidae family generally includes medium to large birds. They usually have grey or brown feathers, often with white marks on their wings. They nest on the ground in cooler parts of the world and travel long distances.

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae

Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds, including gulls, terns, and skimmers. Gulls are typically grey or white, often with black marks on their heads or wings. They have strong, somewhat long bills and webbed feet. Terns are usually medium to large seabirds, often with grey or white feathers and black marks on their heads. Most terns catch fish by diving, but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Terns often live for a long time, with some species known to live over 30 years.

Tropicbirds

Order: Phaethontiformes   Family: Phaethontidae

Tropicbirds are slender white birds found in tropical oceans. They have incredibly long central tail feathers. Their heads and long wings have black markings.

Southern Storm-Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Oceanitidae

Southern storm-petrels are related to petrels and are the smallest seabirds. They eat tiny sea creatures called planktonic crustaceans and small fish, which they pick from the water's surface, often while hovering. Their flight is fluttery and sometimes looks like a bat's.

Northern Storm-Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Hydrobatidae

Even though these birds look and act much like southern storm-petrels, they have enough genetic differences to be placed in their own family.

  • Matsudaira's storm-petrel, Hydrobates matsudairae

Shearwaters and Petrels

Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Procellariidae

The procellariids are the main group of medium-sized "true petrels." They have nostrils that are joined together with a middle wall, and a long, working outer primary feather.

Frigatebirds

Order: Suliformes   Family: Fregatidae

Frigatebirds are large seabirds usually found over tropical oceans. They can be large, black and white, or completely black, with long wings and deeply forked tails. The males have colorful throat pouches that they can inflate. They cannot swim or walk, and they can't take off from a flat surface. They have the largest wingspan compared to their body weight of any bird, which means they are amazing flyers and can stay in the air for over a week!

  • Lesser frigatebird, Fregata ariel
  • Christmas Island frigatebird, Fregata andrewsi
  • Great frigatebird, Fregata minor

Boobies and Gannets

Order: Suliformes   Family: Sulidae

The sulids include gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium to large seabirds that live near coasts and dive headfirst into the water to catch fish.

Cormorants and Shags

Order: Suliformes   Family: Phalacrocoracidae

Phalacrocoracidae is a family of medium to large seabirds that eat fish and live near coasts. This family includes cormorants and shags. Their feather colors vary, with most being mainly dark, some black and white, and a few being colorful.

Pelicans

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Pelecanidae

Pelicans are large water birds with a special pouch under their beak. Like other birds in their group, they have webbed feet with four toes.

Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Ardeidae

The Ardeidae family includes bitterns, herons, and egrets. Herons and egrets are medium to large wading birds with long necks and legs. Bitterns usually have shorter necks and are more cautious. Birds in this family fly with their necks pulled back, unlike other long-necked birds like storks or ibises.

Ibises and Spoonbills

Order: Pelecaniformes   Family: Threskiornithidae

Threskiornithidae is a family of large birds that live on land and in water. It includes ibises and spoonbills. They have long, wide wings with 11 primary feathers and about 20 secondary feathers. They are strong flyers and, despite their size and weight, are very good at soaring.

Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

Order: Accipitriformes   Family: Accipitridae

Accipitridae is a family of birds of prey. It includes hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, and Old World vultures. These birds have strong, hooked beaks for tearing meat from their prey, powerful legs, strong talons (claws), and excellent eyesight.

  • Oriental honey-buzzard, Pernis ptilorhynchus (A)
  • Chinese sparrowhawk, Accipiter soloensis (A)
  • Gray goshawk, Accipiter novaehollandiae
  • Brown goshawk, Accipiter fasciatus (A)
  • Japanese sparrowhawk, Accipiter gularis (A)
  • White-bellied sea-eagle, Haliaeetus leucogaster (A)

Owls

Order: Strigiformes   Family: Strigidae

The typical owls are small to large birds of prey that hunt alone at night. They have big eyes that face forward and large ears. They also have a hawk-like beak and a clear circle of feathers around each eye, called a facial disk.

  • Northern boobook, Ninox japonica (A)
  • Christmas Island boobook, Ninox natalis (E)

Kingfishers

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Alcedinidae

Kingfishers are medium-sized birds with large heads, long, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails.

Rollers

Order: Coraciiformes   Family: Coraciidae

Rollers are similar in size and shape to crows, but they are more closely related to kingfishers and bee-eaters. They are very colorful, mostly with blues and browns. Their two inner front toes are joined, but the outer toe is not.

Falcons and Caracaras

Order: Falconiformes   Family: Falconidae

Falconidae is a family of birds of prey that are active during the day. They are different from hawks, eagles, and kites because they kill their prey with their beaks instead of their talons.

Pittas

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Pittidae

Pittas are medium-sized songbirds that are stocky, with fairly long, strong legs, short tails, and strong bills. Many are brightly colored. They spend most of their time on wet forest floors, eating snails, insects, and similar small creatures.

Shrikes

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Laniidae

Shrikes are songbirds known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and sticking the uneaten parts of their bodies on thorns. A typical shrike's beak is hooked, like a bird of prey.

Reed Warblers and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Acrocephalidae

The birds in this family are usually quite large for "warblers." Most are plain olive-brown on top with a lot of yellow to beige underneath. They are usually found in open woodlands, reedbeds, or tall grass. This family is mostly found in southern to western Eurasia and nearby areas, but it also reaches far into the Pacific, with some species in Africa.

  • Oriental reed warbler, Acrocephalus orientalis (A)

Grassbirds and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Locustellidae

Locustellidae is a family of small songbirds that eat insects. They are found mainly in Eurasia, Africa, and the Australian region. They are small birds with tails that are usually long and pointed, and they tend to be dull brownish or buffy all over.

Swallows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Hirundinidae

The Hirundinidae family is designed for catching food while flying. They have slender, streamlined bodies, long, pointed wings, and a short bill with a wide opening. Their feet are made for perching rather than walking, and their front toes are partly joined at the base.

Leaf Warblers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Phylloscopidae

Leaf warblers are a family of small birds that eat insects. They are found mostly in Eurasia and extend into Wallacea and Africa. The species come in various sizes, often with green feathers on top and yellow underneath, or more muted colors like grayish-green to grayish-brown.

White-eyes, Yuhinas, and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Zosteropidae

White-eyes are small and often not very flashy birds. Their feathers on top are usually a dull color like greenish-olive, but some species have a white or bright yellow throat, chest, or lower parts, and several have buff-colored sides. As their name suggests, many species have a white ring around each eye.

  • Christmas Island white-eye, Zosterops natalis (E)

Starlings

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Sturnidae

Starlings are small to medium-sized songbirds. They fly strongly and directly and often gather in large groups. They prefer open areas. They eat insects and fruit. Their feathers are usually dark with a metallic shine.

  • Rosy starling, Pastor roseus (A)
  • Daurian starling, Agropsar sturninus (A)

Thrushes and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Turdidae

The thrushes are a group of songbirds found mainly in the Old World. They are plump, soft-feathered, small to medium-sized birds that eat insects or sometimes everything. They often feed on the ground. Many have beautiful songs.

Old World Flycatchers

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Muscicapidae

Old World flycatchers are a large group of small songbirds native to the Old World. They are mainly small birds that live in trees and eat insects. These birds have a wide variety of appearances, but most have weak songs and harsh calls.

Waxbills and Allies

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Estrildidae

The estrildid finches are small songbirds found in the tropical parts of the Old World and Australasia. They are social birds that often live in colonies and eat seeds. They have short, thick, but pointed bills. They are all similar in their body structure and habits, but their feather colors and patterns vary widely.

Old World Sparrows

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Passeridae

Old World sparrows are small songbirds. Generally, sparrows are small, plump, brown or grey birds with short tails and short, strong beaks. Sparrows eat seeds, but they also eat small insects.

Wagtails and Pipits

Order: Passeriformes   Family: Motacillidae

Motacillidae is a family of small songbirds with medium to long tails. They include the wagtails, longclaws, and pipits. They are slender birds that eat insects on the ground in open areas.

See also

  • List of birds
  • Lists of birds by region
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List of birds of Christmas Island Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.